As per the solution provided in this SO thread we can get back some screen real estate from Eclipse.
However, when working with multiple editor tabs (e.g. in a quadrant layout) the ever present horizontal scrollbars (even when there is no text extending beyond viewing area!) are a waste of valuable coding space, not to mention, hideous.
Have tried various CSS hacks in eclipse default_gtk.css (on Linux here) all to no avail; it appears that the ScrollBar widget is not modifiable via CSS.
This bug thread on saving space in Eclipse indicates something is in the works for Luna, but the developers seem split, some not caring about scrollbars or any wasted space (assuming everyone has huge monitors), and others preferring a clean and lean UI.
Anyway, if anyone has leads for how to hide scrollbars in Eclipse >= 4.2, do chime in! It's IMO the missing UI "feature" of Eclipse as you can strip out everything else, almost have max screen real estate available for code...just these damn scrollbars o_O
I think this does depend a lot on what the native controls used by SWT support. On the Mac, for example, scroll bars are not displayed.
If the SWT control on Linux supports turning off the scroll bars it should be possible to write a CSS property handler to set it. I do something similar on the Mac to set the scroll bar 'knob style' for trees and tables.
See my any answer to this question which shows how to write a CSS property handler in a plugin for StyledText which could be adapted.
Related
I've spent some time already searching for an answer. I know that I can increase the text size in an open file, but is there any way to increase the overall UI scaling? I have a large monitor so I can utilize multiple applications in my workflow, but the size of the application text and icons is so small that it's totally unusable.
Here is a comparison between Eclipse on the left and IntelliJ on the right on my screen:
I scaled IntelliJ on the right to be the perfect size, easily, but Eclipse on the left is way too small to effectively work with it.
I've tried removing a line indicating small text in the eclipse.ini file but that didn't change anything.
Given how poorly my search has turned up already, I assume the answer is 'no'. This leads me to ask, how is this possible? How can such a sophisticated and popular application not be able to change the UI scaling? I feel as though there must actually be a reasonable explanation because this is just plain absurd. This can't be passed off as a legitimate piece of software in this day and age without flexibility on screen size.
Thank you.
EDIT: *
I'm still unable to update the size of the UI icons. I've searched through numerous other issues going through the "-Dswt.autoScale=200" options in the elipse.ini setting but this is not working on Mac. Anyone able to assist here? Thank you!
The "Tree and Table font for views" setting in the "General > Appearance > Colors and Fonts" page of the Preferences sets the size of Project Explorer view. That entry is in the "View and Editor Folders" section.
Icons are only scaled if the display is set up as scaled by x2 or x1.5.
I like to keep as much of my Eclipse screen as possible for code. So I try to disable or turn off as many of the extra bars and such as possible. The area at the very bottom of the Eclipse screen is my next target but I don't know what it's called.
Can anyone tell me the name of this area and how to reclaim it? Thanks.
Here is an eclipse plug-in which hides/shows Menu bar and/or Status bar.
User can change these options in Windows > Preferences > Full Screen
But Hiding Status bar was NOT working on my machine
Ubuntu 13.10 Eclipse Version: Kepler Release Build id: 20130614-0229
This are is called the Status Line but it composed of a number of different components such as the progress indicator, editor current line and row, and the message area.
I am not aware of anything that will turn it all off.
I can see why you're eager to close that. It looks like your screen resolution is extremely low. Are you using a netbook perhaps?
Here's the problem though: On your screen, that part looks quite large and looks empty but it's because of your screen size. I'm fairly certain it doesn't have a name and having scoured the options, I'm convinced it can't be removed. On my screen, that section contains only a few words: "Writable | Smart Insert | 423:32"
Essentially, the words that show up there are a guide for your current editing mode and location in the file. I don't think it can be turned off. If you hit Ctrl + M, it will hide almost everything possible on maximize your editor view.
On my screen, that little bar is very small. That is of course because I have a high screen resolution. If possible, try increasing the resolution on your screen to something more appropriate. You'll find you have a lot more space to code, and that little bar will become much smaller.
In eclipse oxygen there is option to hide status bar:
Windows->Appearance->Hide_status_bar
I had been using Eclipse 3.x for a few years and while I had a few issues w.r.t. its stability and performance, I never had any particular annoyance with the UI itself...
Now that the new and shiny Eclipse 4.2 is out of the oven, it feels more stable and somewhat snappier, but I instantly felt a dislike for some details of its UI:
I find the "curved" look of the main toolbar distracting and it seems to me that it does not mix well with any other element in my desktop. It could just be a color issue, but the toolbar is prevalent enough to merit a specific mention.
The default colors do not work well with the TFT/TN displays of the laptop and both desktop computers that I am using. The various gradients seem completely washed out, the tab separators are practically invisible and the toolbar curve looks totally weird.
It's also almost impossible to tell which view is active - Eclipse 3.x used a unique blue color for the active tab header. Juno uses a color-reversal in all inactive tabs, which probably sounds more visible, but in my opinion that effect is lost because the active tab is still in a shade of gray which is lost in the overall gray-ness of the new UI...
So, how do I get back to a more reasonable look and feel? Is there somewhere a theming option that would help?
PS.1: I use Eclipse/GTK on Linux...
PS.2: What happened to all the colors in Juno, anyway?
PS.3: Can we keep the new splash screen, though? That one, I like...
Apparently, the Eclipse developers were kind enough to leave us an easy way out:
From the Window menu, select Preferences.
Expand the General category in the Preferences dialog tree.
Click on the Appearance sub-category.
On the left side of the window, a Theme drop-down menu will appear - click on it.
Select Classic in the Theme drop-down menu.
Most important: you need to restart Eclipse after that, even though no hint to that effect appears.
This setting is mentioned in several blog posts, which for some reason I could not find until I started using terms such as "awful" and "ugly" in Google. It seems that I was not the only one to find the new theme unbearable...
There is another way documented here.
This goes a lot further than the switch to classic theme and makes it look like 3.x.
The problem with the Juno L & F is that its great on monitors with 1600x1050. But my work PC has 2 screens that are 1280x1-24. Not so great!
I found a way to make Juno look like Indigo: I know there are new fancy themes around but I'm not willing to spend time on it.
My solution is just to copy the Indigo css_prefs files into Juno directory
.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.core.runtime/.settings
The file you have to look for are
org.eclipse.e4.ui.css.swt.theme.prefs and org.eclipse.wst.css.ui.prefs
If you don't have them you can download from my blog http://www.venturin.net/2013/04/04/eclipse-juno-looks-ugly-in-linux-mint-14-nadia/
To restore traditional style tabs on more recent versions of Eclipse, edit e4_classic_winxp.css and change swt-simple: false; to swt-simple: true; (this assumes you are using the default Classic theme).
On Eclipse Kepler this file is located in:
eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.platform_4.3.2.v20140221-1700\css
On Eclipse Mars this file is located in:
eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.ui.themes_1.1.0.v20150511-0913\css
EDIT: For anyone coming to this question through searching, you can install a Gnome Theme called Clearlooks Compact to shorten your tabs in Eclipse. This will free up a lot of screen space. You can also check out the answer below to learn how to make the tabs more horizontally compact.
Short version: How do I make a short version of Eclipse's tabs & toolbars in Ubuntu?
I've been looking around for a fix to this on Google, but to no avail. With any GTK theme, I still have this same issue and it's very, very annoying--to the point where I've stopped using Eclipse in favor of gEdit. However, after running pylint from a terminal too. many. times. I've decided I need to find a solution to this issues with Eclipse so I can have PyDev back. Here's what the tabs look like:
alt text http://c0496682.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/big-tabs.png
As you can see, not only are the tabs exaggerated, but the toolbar is, too: so is the toolbar on the bottom; so are the tabs in the bottom pane. Overall, it's eating up a lot of screen space, which is a hard item to come by on a 17" screen. Any suggestions/fixes?
This can be solved changing your GTK settings;
gedit ~/.gtkrc-2.0
Then add this;
style "gtkcompact" {
GtkButton::default_border={0,0,0,0}
GtkButton::default_outside_border={0,0,0,0}
GtkButtonBox::child_min_width=0
GtkButtonBox::child_min_heigth=0
GtkButtonBox::child_internal_pad_x=0
GtkButtonBox::child_internal_pad_y=0
GtkMenu::vertical-padding=1
GtkMenuBar::internal_padding=0
GtkMenuItem::horizontal_padding=4
GtkToolbar::internal-padding=0
GtkToolbar::space-size=0
GtkOptionMenu::indicator_size=0
GtkOptionMenu::indicator_spacing=0
GtkPaned::handle_size=4
GtkRange::trough_border=0
GtkRange::stepper_spacing=0
GtkScale::value_spacing=0
GtkScrolledWindow::scrollbar_spacing=0
GtkTreeView::vertical-separator=0
GtkTreeView::horizontal-separator=0
GtkTreeView::fixed-height-mode=TRUE
GtkWidget::focus_padding=0
}
class "GtkWidget" style "gtkcompact"
borrowed from http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1465712
In addition to #Varun Mehta answer, I recommend the following tips for Eclipse 4 (Juno), whose interface is partially dictated and configurable by CSS rules:
In YourEclipseDir/plugins/org.eclipse.platform_4.x.y.v2012zzzzzzzz/css, edit:
e4_basestyle.css
e4_default.css
e4_default_gtk.css
... and adjust those files. I use the following set of tweaks:
set all the margin-* and padding to 0
set swt-shadow-visible: false everywhere you find it, to get rid of those huge shadows
set .MPartStack {font-size} to something smaller than 12
Finally, remember you can disable the toolbar. In 4.0, its state wasn't remembered across sessions, but it seems like the issue is solved in 4.2.1
Bonus resources: Eclipse4/CSS will get you started on Eclipse4 CSS, E4/CSS/SWT Mapping lists other interesting CSS attributes, and CSS Spy will help you inspect the UI.
Screenshot of what I end up with:
EDIT: see also How to remove the close (×) button from Eclipse Juno tabs?
In Addition to Ronans answer, it is possible to change the height of the tabs directly in Eclipse Juno.
edit the css file of your current style (e.g. e4_default_gtk.css) and add
CTabFolder {
tab-height: 16px;
}
Note: CTabFolder ... not add this to CTabFolder Canvas!
I too have suffered from this quite a bit, before I found the solution by changing the general appearance of my IDE.
You can try and customize the look-and-feel or you Eclipse Environment from,
Go to : Window -> Preferences -> General -> Appearance.
try setting,
Current Presentation to " Default ".
Enable " Traditional Style Tabs " (for rectangular tabs.)
Disable Animation ( if you don't like swoosh effect.)
Note: the Default Eclipse 4 just got a bit better with bug 420238 closed:
[CSS] Reduce whitespace usage in the default Eclipse themes
Before:
After:
See Lars Vogel's article about it:
If you fire up the next Eclipse 4.4 milestone build, Eclipse uses much less whitespace and leaves more space for the important content.
(That would be 4.4 M5)
While this is on a technical level a trivial change, I hope that this will improve the initial perception people have in using Eclipse.
A big thanks to Daniel Rolka, Robin Stocker and Dani Megert for doing the majority of the work and a big thanks all involved parties in the Bug report to get this change accepted.
If you really want to make the tabs nice an' short, take a gander at Clearlooks Compact.
I preferred to just hit the whole IDE with a splash of "meh," so here's what I ended up with.
Recently I have got a new 22" monitor. Finally it's possible to keep all needed windows in Eclipse open while having the main editor window wide enough to display all 120 columns. Problem now is when I wide up or narrow down windows on the left or right side of the editor. Editor's width narrows down or wides up. I'd like to set its width fixed to some value and let the other windows 'breathe' in width.
Take a look at the illustration.
You should rather use detached views, that way your main editor is not affected by the other windows resize operations.
(source: eclipse.org)
Either that, or use fast views, which minimises the views down to an icon that can be conveniently popped up when you need to use them. This is especially handy for things like the JUnit test view, as suggested by the JUnit Eclipse documentation
http://help.eclipse.org/help32/topic/org.eclipse.jdt.doc.user/gettingStarted/qs-junit.htm